Category: Audiobook

A very pleasant book with many anecdotes circulating around the idea that having a passion for something won’t necessarily get you where you’re aiming for. Instead, Newport suggests adopting what he calls ‘the craftsman mindset’. Building rare and valuable skills, that make up your career capital to a point where you will eventually be “So good they can’t ignore you”.

He takes stand against what he calls ‘the passion mindset’ which according to him has a tendency to ask questions like “What can the world offer me?” and “Is this who I truly am?”. These questions put the one adopting the mindset into a constant state of doubtfulness, causing them to be unhappy about their jobs the first moment their passion fades. The ‘Craftsman mindset’ on the other hand focuses on honing your skills and asks “What can I offer the world?”. This gives the ones adopting it the ability to develop a passion for their craft, which is a reward, not an a priori condition.

This is the story of Ben Horowitz. Starting as a lowly programmer, then proceeding through several steps on the corporate ladder ending up – as he defines it – a wartime CEO and then finally cashing it all in for the big bag of $$$ and becoming a venture capitalist. There are scenes in this story that are often rude and harsh but he stays at all times very professional and caring for what he does and for with whom he works.

The part that got me a lot is that it seems that during all his career he cared a lot for his work. No fiddling around, no laying low, but pure power and professionalism.

Since I spend 2x30minutes on a daily basis walking to work, I get to spend some time with myself and listening to music all this time daily just didn’t cut it. Audiobook are great sources of entertainment regardless of what type of books you consume, the format puts books into a slightly different context which I find interesting and also pretty convenient. So for this reason I will be doing some audiobook recommendations from now.

The platform I use is Audible on my android phone. In case you’d like to try it out, there is a free audiobook on signup if you support my favourite programming podcast, Programming Throwdown: http://www.audibletrial.com/programmingthrowdown